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F. HICKS. MACHINE FOR SPLITTING 0R SKIVING wELTs OR OTHER PIECES OF FLEXIBLE MATERIAL.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-2| I914.

Patented Aug. 15, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I WWW . F. RICKS. MACHINE FOR SPLITTING 0H SKIVING WELTS OR OTHER PIECES OF FLEXIBLE-MATERIAL.

APPLICATION men 0502,1914

1,191,516 Patented Aug. 15,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2- ERED means, or LEICESTER, ENGLAND, AssIe oR 'ro UNITED sHo'E MACHINERY COMPANY, OF PATERsoN, NEW JERsEY, A coRPoRArmN on NEW JER'sEY.

MACHINE FOB, SPLITTING OR SKIVING WELTS OR OTHER PIECES OF FLEXIIBLE MATERIAL.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Arn I5, 191%.

Application filed December 2, 1914. Serial No. 875,106.

Skiving WVelts or Other Pieces of Flexible Material; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to that type of machine used for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, that has a work-positioning roll occupying a normally fixed position relatively to the cutting. knife, and a cooperating pressure roll between which and the work-positioning roll the work is normally gripped at substantially the point where the knife operates. In these machines, as commonly constructed, the pressure roll is pressed by a spring toward the cutting knife and the work-positioning roll, but its movement in the direction in which it is urged is limited by a stop in order that it shall not foul the said knife. The pressure roll is therefore prevented by the stop from approaching within a certain distance of the work-positioning roll so that if the thickness of the work between the rolls becomes less than the said distance, the rolls lose control of the Work. As the work is quite free to move about in such case, it does not pass smoothly up to the knife so that sometimes the latter digs into and occasionally cuts right through the work. In addition to splitting or skiving, welt or similar strip stock often requires. the further operations of beveling and grooving. If it is attempted to combine all these operations and feed the work in substantially a straight line between the cooperating rolls, past the said splitting or skiving knife and on to beveling and grooving cutters the feeding for the, splitting or skiving operation being effected by rotating either or both of the rolls through suitable mechanism and for the other operations by auxiliary feeding means which pull the split or skived portion of the work past the other cutters, it is found that when the said rolls lose control of the work by reason of its thinness, the auxiliary feeding means are liable to pull the Work against the splitting or skiving knife, causing the material to bind against the knife and be damaged thereby.

For the purpose of obviating these disad-' vantages a feature of the invention is the provision, in. a machine of the type referred to, of additional means for. holding the work against the positioning roll in the passage of the work to and from the splitting or skiving knife. tional means comprise two members, one located on each side of the point where the work is normally gripped between the positioning and pressure rolls. In the construction hereinafter described the said means comprise a roller yieldingly pressed toward the positioning roll to hold the work against the front side thereof, and a second roller mounted on a fixed axis on the opposite side of the said positioning roll, and means may be provided to retract the first mentioned roller to facilitate the introduction of the work into the machine.

In addition to the feature of invention above referred to the present invention also consists in certain combinations, devices and arrangements of parts hereinafter de scribed and claimed, the advantages of which will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, as incorporated in a welt splitting, beveling and grooving ma chine, but it is to be understood that this is by way of example only as the invention could be embodied in other constructions or be applied to other machines of the type above referred to, whether they operate on welts or on other pieces of flexible material, without departing from the spirit thereof.

In the accompanying drawings I igure l is a side elevation of a portionof a welt splitting, beveling and grooving machine, certain parts being broken .away to show more clearly how the invention has been applied to the machine; and Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine.

Like reference characters indicate like parts in both the figures.

As ordinarily constructed, machines of the type previously referred to comprise a Preferably the said addi roll 2 which is mounted on a spindle 4: supported in a normally fixed part 6 of the machine frame and which positions the work while being operated upon by the splitting or skiving knife 8. The distance between the cutting edge of the latter and the face of the positioning roll 2 determines the thickness to which the material is split or skived, and this distance is normally fixed. In order to hold the work down upon the positioning roll at the point where the knife operates, a cooperating pressure roll 10 is provided. In the present construction this roll is located immediately above the positioning roll 2 and is carried by the lower forked end of a member 12 having a shank portion 14 which is guided vertically within the bore of a boss 16 formed on a yoke 18 extending upward from a knife-carrying head 20. The upper part 22 of the said shank portion is, reduced and passes through a thumb nut 24 screwed into the said bore. A spring 26 located between the thumb nut and a shoulder on the shank portion 14 operates yieldingly to depress the upper or pressure roll 10. The member 12 receives a screw 28 which projects upwardly through the yoke 18 formed on the head and since the head of the screw is normally held in contact with the yoke by the spring, the portion of the yoke 18 with which the head of the screw 28 contacts, forms a stop cooperating with the screw and this screw provides means for adjustably limiting the downward movement of the member 12 with relation to the head 20 and to the splitting knife carried thereby. As the knife 8 is secured in the head with its cutting edge located at substantially the point where the work is normally gripped between the cooperating rolls 2 and 10, it is necessary to adjust this screw so that the pressure roll 10 cannot descend far enough to come into contact with the knife.

In order to adjust the thickness to which the work is to be reduced by the splitting knife, the knife-carrying head 20 is pivoted at 30 to the part 6 and in front it is jointed to an eccentric strap 32 surrounding an eccentric 34 which can be rotated by a handle 36 about a stud 38 fixed on the part 6. lhis adjustment of the head 20 notonly adjusts I the splitting knife, hut simultaneously adjusts' the stop for the screw 28 so that the pressure roll is always prevented from contaeting with the knife, but still can descend far enough to just clear the knife.

In this machine both the cooperating rolls are rotated by suitable machanism, as is usual in machines of this type, so that the welt 40 is fed rearward between the rolls, past the splitting knife, and onto beveling and grooving cutters (not shown) it being customary to provide auxiliary feeding means located to the rear of the cooperating rolls in order to carry the welt along past these cutters. In the machine illustrated this auxiliary feeding means comprises feed rolls indicated in dotted lines at 12 and 44:. The mechanism for rotating the rolls 2 and 10 comprises a clutch-pulley 46 which, through a chain drive, is caused to turn the roll 2, and the latter is provided with teeth 48 meshing with teeth 50 formed on the roll 10, so that both the rolls are driven by the pulley 46.

It will be appreciated that if the portion of the welt between the rolls is of less thickness than the distance between the knife edge and the positioning roll 2 the pressure roll 10 cannot descend far enough to main- -tain its grip upon the work because the screw 28 must be set so that the pressure roll can never contact with the knife and because the latter is separated from the positioning roll. In the operation of machines as formerly constructed, when the rolls lose their grip of the welt in this manner, the welt comes to the knife uncontrolled and, being free to move about, is liable to be cut into or be severed by the knife, although the welt does not exceed the desired thickness. Further, the said auxiliary feeding means tend, in such case, to pull the welt past the splitting knife 8 so that the inaterial binds against the underside of the knife, which action also tends to cause the knife to dig into the welt.

According to the present invention, the welt is held in contact with the positioning roll 2 both before and after it reaches the splitting knife so that, Whether any material is actually being split oil it or not, it is always properly guided past the knife. To effect this there is pivoted on the stud 38 a lever 52 which extends toward the positioning roll and which is divided at its forward end into two arms 54-, 56. These arms carry between them a guide roller 58. The guide roller is urged to press the welt against the front side of the roll 2 by a spring 60 so that the welt is held in contact with the curved face of the roll before it is gripped between the cooperating rolls. This spring has one end secured to a hook projecting from the hub of the arm 56. This arm is provided with a tail piece 62 which can be depressed by the operator when he desires to separate the positioning roll 2 and the guide roller 58 in order to insert the welt between them. The lever 52 has an upstanding portion 64: that extends across the space formed by the converging surfaces of the positioning and pressure rolls and upward in front of the roll 10. This upstanding portion acts as a guard against accident to the operator and also prevents the welt from being accidentally inserted between the positioning and the pressure rolls before it has been placed under the springcontrolled guide roller 58. Adjacent to the opposite side of the positioning roll and beneath the level of the splitting knife is a second guide roller 66 mounted on a pincarried by the part 6. Another roller 68 is mounted on the stud 38 between the arms 54, 56. t

The welt strip passes over the roller 68 between the spring-controlled guide roller 58 and the positioning roll 2; then up over the curved face of the latter to the point where it is gripped between the rolls 2 and 10 and where the splitting'knife 8 removes the surplus material; after which it descends in contact with the said curved face and passes under the guide roller 66 to the beveling and grooving cutters and their auxiliary feeding means. It will be seen that in this manner the welt is held firmly in contact with the positioning roll 2 during its passage past the splitting knife, thus always holding the welt in proper relationship to the said knife.

The nature and scope of the present invention having been indicated, and a machine embodying a preferred form of the invention having been specifically described, what is claimed is:

1. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pressure roll cooperating with the work positioning roll to feed the work, a stop to limit the movement of the pressure roll toward the work positioning roll, a skiving knife arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is normally gripped between the rolls, and means in addition to the pressure roll for feeding the work and holding it in contact with the work positioning roll.

2. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pressure roll, a stop to limit the movement of the pressure roll toward the work positioning roll, a skiving knife arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is normally gripped between the rolls, and means in addition to the pressure roll for holding the work both against the work positioning roll in advance of and at the rear of the knife.

3. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pressure roll, a stop to limit the movement of the pressure roll toward the work positioning roll, a skiving knife arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is normally gripped between the rolls, feed ing means engaging the work at the rear of the knife, means in addition to the pressure roll for holding the work against the work positioning roll in advance of the knife, and guiding means for holding the work against the work positioning roll at the rear of the knife.

4. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pressure roll, a stop to limit the move ment of the pressure roll toward the work positioning roll, a skiving knife arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is normally gripped between the rolls, feeding means engaging the work at the rear of the knife, a yieldingly mounted roll in addition to the pressure roll for pressing the work against the work positioning roll in advance of the knife, and a guide for holding the work against the work positioning roll at the rear of the knife.

5. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material,

having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pressure roll, a stop to limit the movement of the pressure roll toward the work positioning roll, a skiving knife arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is normally gripped between the rolls, and means for simultaneously adjusting the knife and stop.

6. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pivoted frame, a pressure roll yieldingly mounted in the pivoted frame, a stop carried by the pivoted frame for limiting the movement of the pressure roll toward the work positioning roll, a skiving knife also carried by the pivoted frame arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is normally gripped between the rolls, and means for adjusting the pivoted frame to adjust simultaneously the knife and stop.

7. A machine for splitting or skiving welts or other pieces of flexible material, having in combination, a work positioning roll, a pressure roll, a skiving knife arranged to act on the work at the point where the work is gripped between the rolls, a yieldingly mounted roll in addition to the pressure roll for pressing the work against the work positioning roll in advance of the knife, and a guard plate extending across the space formed by the converging surfaces of the work positioning and pressure rolls.

FRED KICKS. Witnesses:

Fnnonnrox WILLIAM WORTH, CnoIL HERBERT CRoss.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I). G. 

